


He say's he's happy, he's a liar- blame the arson for the fire

by junebugtwin



Category: Coraline (2009), Coraline - All Media Types, Coraline - Neil Gaiman, Gravity Falls
Genre: Angst, Coraline has PTSD, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I love her, Mentions of Violence, Mild Language, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, and also ADHD, coraline and dipper and mabel become buds!, coraline is a bit of an asshole in this, mentions of the other mother, she's not in the fic tho, shes got a lot on her plate, they can talk about trauma together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:54:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23058832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junebugtwin/pseuds/junebugtwin
Summary: For a moment, the hill was quiet, Coraline sucked into her own thoughts, and presumably, Dipper busy with his.“You ever notice anything strange going on in this town?” He asked abruptly, and Coraline very carefully didn’t tackle him to the ground and check his eyes for string. Nope. Nothing strange here- not anymore. Not anymore. Not anymore. Just an old well and an old pink building and a hole in her wall that doesn’t exist.---Coraline makes a new friend, one who she may have more in common with than she realizes.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 36





	He say's he's happy, he's a liar- blame the arson for the fire

**Author's Note:**

> Coraline, the movie, scares the utter shit out of me. Yes, I am a big baby. But- but, I always wonder, what the hell is Coralines life even like, after all that? She's gone though some really horrific stressful things, and is sort of just expected to go back to life as usual? I always thought that, that would make for a really interesting character. Fortunately, I feel the same way about Mabel and Dipper.

The day is extra grey for some reason- overcast clouds swimming in the sky lazily like a particularly boring bowl of dull colored soup. It’s one of those almost-rainy days, where it rained last night, so everything is wet and gross, and you think it might rain again, so you bring an umbrella everywhere and end up looking like an idiot when it never does.

She doesn’t mind cloudy weather once and awhile, but Ashland looked like this basically every day, and it got old, so old it died and everybody was stuck staring and the stinky rotting corpse. Blagh.

She had gotten sort of used to it though, after three years- like you get used to a pebble in your boot, or creaky floorboards, or glancing at shadows that were never there. Just a part of life. Crappy life.

Coraline huffed, pushing dark blue hair up in the air with a puff of breath. It could always be crappy-er she reminded herself. It could always be worse. You could be-

She instantly snapped her left eye closed, before quickly reaching out and poking it with a finger. it was just flesh- goopy eyeball underneath that she could feel if she pushed just a _little_ too much pressure. Nothing round and smooth and plastic. She nodded, before moving her hand to yank harshly at her hair- a bolt of hard pain accompanied, which was promising, and the texture in her hands was tangled and dry, but not soft like yarn or string.

Okay. She flicked her eyes around the room, making sure every single detail was in place and accounted for- not one bit of it replaced or empty, or upgraded suddenly. Good. Good. Nice.

Adrenaline not worn of yet, she decided she was tired of sulking on her bed in the dark- it was almost time to get ready for school anyways.

Highschool was, in many ways, a blessing and a curse. She liked learning, and reading, and writing- she liked math and science and english and history- she wasn’t _good_ at all of it, necessarily, but it was interesting. It was not, _not_ boring. It was distracting.

Her classmates, on the other hand, were the most annoying repulsively little snot nosed twerps she’d managed to encounter- and her best, and only friend, was Wybie. So.

They were loud- and listen, Coraline could appreciate loudness for its own sake, but these kids were just non-stop- always fighting and yelling and gossiping. Some of them were alright, she guessed- she liked her lab partner alright, he was nice, in sort of a condescending way. But the rest of them were all monsters. Metaphorically, not literally- she had checked.

For one thing they seemed to be trying to ‘bully’ her, which was rude, unpleasant, and took up her time. She got that she was weird- it wasn’t exactly breaking news at this point- it was old hat by now, she was a little kooky- so what? It’s not like she tried to shove it into other people’s faces, or bother them about it-she just minded her own damn business, and _still_ , somehow, they wanted to go after her.

She looked like an easy target, was the simplest answer. Dyed blue hair, out of fashion clothing, geeky, talks to herself, acts odd, is friends with ‘that one loser kid’- she fidgeted if she got too bored, couldn’t think sometimes, got obsessed with random things, had to always be moving, and was sort of cranky. Or so she’d been told.

But she wasn’t an easy target, as they were finding out.

Coraline listened to the sound of high pitched screaming from atop the shaded hill she always sat- smirking with some satisfaction. She wasn’t a psycho, she didn’t like hurting people- in fact, she hadn’t even hurt those girls- maybe just scared them a little. They deserved it anyway, tripping her in class, shoving her in the halls, calling her names, spilling her lunch, stealing her books- ect, ect. Maybe they’d learn an important lesson here about not bullying people like little dipshits. Or maybe they’d learn not to judge a book by its cover. Not everyone was safe to harm.

“That was pretty awesome.” Coraline jumped, her heart rate spiking- and whirled around, hand reaching into her pocket and wrapping around the handle of her switchblade. She hadn’t been prepared, hadn’t thought anyone followed her up here, wasn’t paying attention- stupid, _stupid_ \- this is a game, _her_ game, she had to pay attention or she’d be-

It was just a kid. Brown hair, pale skin, skinny- weird hat- oh. It was actually her lab partner. Mason Pines- or as he preferred to be called, Dipper. God knows why. She guessed Dipper was more eye-catching than Mason, but not in the way she’d want to be eye-catching.

She relaxed, casually slipping her hand from her pocket and crossing her arms in front of her chest. The kid cocked his head slightly, but didn’t make any comments about her slight overreaction to being startled.

“What was?” She snorted, acting nonchalantly. She couldn’t exactly admit to pulling a prank that would definitely get her in big trouble. Good thing she was a pretty excellent liar.

He smiled, looking strangely amused.

“The green goop- or whatever it was, the fake bugs?” Coraline practiced looking vaguely confused, while considering the fact that this kid thought the bugs were fake. As if she’d go so little into this.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about kid- not that I ever do.” He wasn’t younger than her- they were both fourteen- but she liked calling him kid, partially because he was tiny, and partially because she could tell it annoyed him. Dipper’s eyes scrunched up adorably in displeasure at the nickname, but otherwise didn’t look too offended.

“Sure you don’t. Listen, I’m about the last person in the world who’s going to snitch on you for something like this- I haven’t been here for that long, but even I knew those kids were jerks.” Oh yeah, he was the new kid- she’d sort of forgotten somewhere along the way- she didn’t really attempt to keep up, socially speaking.

“Anyway- uh, can I sit here, for like- uh, lunch? This lunch, I mean? I’m not trying to get in your space, or anything, and I know you always sit here, but I don’t really-“

“-Okay, sure. Just stop talking.” Jesus Christ. One moment he had been perfectly amicable and confident, and the next he was squawking like a chicken. Dipper laughed, looking a little embarrassed, before sitting down beside her in the grass. Sighing inwardly, Coraline did the same thing.

“So, um, Caroline-“

“-It’s Coraline.” Coraline instantly interrupted, not even having to think about the correction as she reached inside her backpack for her lunch bag. Dipper paused, looking confused, and turned to face her slightly.

“What? It is? But all the teachers are always- and the principal too- I just thought your name-?” He sort of stopped, not even bothering to finish his sentence, looking at her curiously, and oddly apologetically. She snorted at his facial expression, pulling out a packet of gummy bears out of her paper bag.

“Yeah they sure do. But my names Coraline, they just don’t bother to remember, even when I correct them.” A fact that irritated her to no end- but by now, she was fairly used to. Even now Wybie just called her ‘Creepy’ most of the time, or occasionally ‘Hero Girl’, though not within anyone else’s earshot.

Dippers eyebrows scrunched in distaste and he made a disparaging sound in his throat.

“That sucks. Well, you can count on me to get it right- it’s the least I can do when you always call me Dipper.” Coraline shrugged, not bothering to reply. It was nice of him to say, and she knew why he was appreciative- all the other kids in the school seemed to call him Mason just because. But if she didn’t know he liked being called Dipper then she never would have remembered his name- the proof of course being that she didn’t even know the names of most of her teachers, and not even her bullies- though she _sure_ they’re all called ‘Madison’ but spelled slightly differently or something. Madison with a y, Madison with a z, white people shit.

For a moment, the hill was quiet, Coraline sucked into her own thoughts, and presumably, Dipper busy with his.

“You ever notice anything strange going on in this town?” He asked abruptly, and Coraline very carefully didn’t tackle him to the ground and check his eyes for string. Nope. Nothing strange here- not anymore. Not anymore. Not anymore. Just an old well and an old pink building and a hole in her wall that doesn’t exist.

“Strange like how?” She asked, glancing over at him carefully, deeply suspicious but not wanting to show it. Why was he asking? Did he know something? He looked normal- well, normal-ish- he didn’t look like a puppet, or a sagging person with skin like melting play-doh and a mouth stitched tight. She would have noticed if he was one of hers- wouldn’t she?

He looked a little awkward now, scratching the back of his neck.

“Uh, I don’t know- like, y’know- there’s a lot of myths around here about witches and hauntings and stuff. Have you ever seen anything like that?” She remembers the Beldam’s long extended neck, her cracked face, beady eyes- fingers that stretched far too long, sharp like needle at the ends, ready to poke through her skin, like popping a flushed water balloon. She thinks of the ghost of the children, their missing empty eyes- mouths open in a perpetual sob. Ghosts and witches indeed.

“You’re asking me if I’ve ever seen a _ghost_?” She sneers, making sure to put as much condescension and disbelief in her voice as possible- anyone who actually knew her knew she had an ‘acute’ belief in the supernatural- even before moving here. It was a good thing practically no one knew her here.

Dipper flushes, but surprisingly, doesn’t back down- eyes narrowing almost challengingly.

“Yes.” Coraline lets out a laugh that sounds a touch too pained. She’s starting to feel bad for this kid- he’s right, even if he doesn’t know it- and _she’s_ making fun of him for it.

“Why, you seen Casper recently?” She asks, hiding her genuine interest. She doubts anyone else in the world has survived and encounter with the Beldam, but it would be nice to have another nut to talk to other than just Wybie.

Dipper stares at her for a moment, clearly trying to decide something.

“No, not yet.” He smiles, and it sounds oddly like he’s sharing a secret.


End file.
